Indian Railways Thread

[manjgu]

i think the emphasis should be on improving existing infrastructure, trains and punctuality. Has anyone seen how shatabdi accelerates with jerks and all. not seen such jerky movement anywhere else ! many toilets in delhi>amritsar shatabadi dont have latches ! and someone has to guard the door especially when ladies use the toilet !! i think we should get the basics right first before we move on to fancy things like HSR, maglev etc. I mean does it make any difference if Delhi>agra is covered in 90 minutes instead of 120 minutes? i would be more impressed if taj express can arrive at desitnation at correct time as per schedule !! and the toilets dont smell .

[Theo_Fidel]

Vsundar saar,

Wow. That is quite the story. Thanx for sharing. Scary looking work site. I bet if one went back 40-50 years the story would have been the same. The thing is in a normal environment contractors like these would be bankrupted and eventually only capable contractors would remain. Randomly sending in 20 guys with a shovel to dig a 20' embankment is a recipe for disaster as it proved in this case with the death of the unfortunate individual. It is obvious that no preliminary investigations were made and no elevation marks were staked out. I don't see a single survey stake in any of the pictures. The entire thing is being done by eye, +- several meters in all three axes. What kind of quality can be ensured with this sort of work. None whatsoever. The sad thing is there are very capable people who could execute this with relative precision yet they get sidelined during the bidding process. The 7 Crore being spent on this underpass is not going to see a good return. This design will cause long term costs due to repeated pumping of water, flooding and traffic disruption. The entire point of things like the Delhi Metro was that a new focus on safety, proper worker equipment and traffic management would become engrained into construction. But looking at this IR does not seeming to be learning a single lesson from the better construction companies out there.

[vsunder]

Vsundar saar,

Wow. That is quite the story. Thanx for sharing. Scary looking work site. I bet if one went back 40-50 years the story would have been the same. The thing is in a normal environment contractors like these would be bankrupted and eventually only capable contractors would remain. Randomly sending in 20 guys with a shovel to dig a 20' embankment is a recipe for disaster as it proved in this case with the death of the unfortunate individual. It is obvious that no preliminary investigations were made and no elevation marks were staked out. I don't see a single survey stake in any of the pictures. The entire thing is being done by eye, +- several meters in all three axes. What kind of quality can be ensured with this sort of work. None whatsoever. The sad thing is there are very capable people who could execute this with relative precision yet they get sidelined during the bidding process. The 7 Crore being spent on this underpass is not going to see a good return. This design will cause long term costs due to repeated pumping of water, flooding and traffic disruption. The entire point of things like the Delhi Metro was that a new focus on safety, proper worker equipment and traffic management would become engrained into construction. But looking at this IR does not seeming to be learning a single lesson from the better construction companies out there.

You have a better eye than me, since I surmise you are trained in this sort of work, and so you have picked out many additional issues that frankly I missed. That is you rightly point out the callous state of affairs. More importantly one should view HSR as an avenue of a new set of work ethics, equipment etc that can apply to bread and butter lines. It is like saying when one goes to space, we got Velcro, miniaturization etc etc, multiple spin-offs. That is the hope. As Singha has added that the level of technology is a mighty leap, so perhaps there is a spin-off effect on the bread and butter operations. Who knows?

Manjgu: Jerks etc. can be for a multiple of reasons. (1) Electric and diesel( they are really diesel-electric) have motors wired in series and parallel, they start with the arrangement in series and then switch to parallel. There is a noticeable jerk when the switching takes place, next time catch it even on a diesel hauled loco pulling out of your favourite station. Next time you travel on IR on regions with steep enough grades, you may notice a symbol C next to the track, that is the driver when coming up the grade has the motors in series and the C tells him/her to switch to a coasting mode and so switch to parallel. You will feel a jerk, and I think IR should put in regenerative braking too on these long downgrades. It is also possible that electric locos slow down when passing through a neutral section of between 4-10m of composite wire which is an insulator. These are built into the overhead wires. The reason is let us say you are travelling from Mangalore to Shoranur. You are traveling on the section from Kasaragod and your loco is drawing power from the substation at Chervattur. But then the next section draws power from the substation at South Kannur. It so happens that if the electricity is not in phase between the two substations, the system will trip if the two substations are wired directly. To eliminate this problem, they put in a neutral section of the type I described(RDSO has an elaborate manual of how the neutral section has to be set up and the type of composite, they call it PTFE resin or something, and they have to make sure there is no arcing across the 10m ends etc. it is the sort of document that has the hearts of people who like minutae go pitter-patter) say at Ezhimala between the two substations. There will be a warning for the driver that there is a neutral section ahead, or else at a very slow speed in principle the engine can die there.

Regarding the elementary remarks I made on rail densities etc. above, this information is usually painted or embossed on the inside of the rails, the density 52kg/m or 60 kg/m and the date the rail was laid down. If you are observant you will see it. Even the turnout ratio 1:12 etc. is sometimes seen on a small board near the turnout.

I also noticed something very amusing. In IR time tables printed after 2003, the table does not carry in the upper left hand corner, the symbol Down or Up. Trains originating from MAS are all Down. So it was always 1 Down Mangalore Mail towards Mangalore. This has become 16001 etc. The older time tables I have, the last old one I have is 1985, explicitly carries a legend in the top left hand corner, which says you are looking at the Down or Up schedule. Oh I suppose it makes no difference to anybody, except for referring to what is the Up or Down line. On the old Northern railway things were interposed. It was always 1 Up Kalka Mail traveling to Delhi, I suppose something to do with Kolkata being the old capital.

[chetak]

Theo_Fidel and Vsundar saars,

Thank you both and also all others. The amount of information one can pick up from here is unbelievable.

Hat tip.

[Sachin]

I also noticed something very amusing. In IR time tables printed after 2003, the table does not carry in the upper left hand corner, the symbol Down or Up. Trains originating from MAS are all Down. So it was always 1 Down Mangalore Mail towards Mangalore.

My understanding is that the "Up/Down" concept has been done away with, after each train got a unique number. The "Up" journey was always to the Zone H.Q. So "Up Mangalore Mail", would be travelling towards Madras from Mangalore. In UK (from where this system would have originated), any train running towards London was "Up" and going away from London would be "Down". A bit tricky since London, is on the lower part of England. So a train towards Edinburgh, up north in Scotland would for the railways be a "Down" train.

[chilarai]

Chain pulling to be thing of past . Those chains are being removed. About time I would say , would have been better to have it with civilized passengers for use in real emergencies but then with the kind of people around leaves railway with no choice.


http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city ... 576895.cms

[Sachin]

Chain pulling to be thing of past . Those chains are being removed. About time I would say , would have been better to have it with civilized passengers for use in real emergencies but then with the kind of people around leaves railway with no choice.

The move is a stupid one, if you really think about it . Railways have strict rules regarding drivers (and assistant drivers) using the cell phones while on duty on the cab. There was even a train crash in Chennai suburban line 3-4 years back, and it was believed that the driver was busy on his cell phone that he overlooked two signals. So I don't know how sharing the numbers of the drivers, and asking people to call them up will be of any help. And the drivers keep changing, so are they going to have a cell phone dedicated to the train?

What is required is more stronger policing, and some real harsh measures to stop this "chain pulling" menace. It is poor law enforcement in these parts of India, which makes ticketless travel, false alarm chain pullings etc. too common. And IR comes with knee jerk reactions. Better would be to remove the chains, and clearly tell the passengers that thanks to their boorish behaviour this facility is with drawn for good. Change the attitude, the alarm chains would come back.

[arshyam]

Manjgu: Jerks etc. can be for a multiple of reasons. (1) Electric and diesel( they are really diesel-electric) have motors wired in series and parallel, they start with the arrangement in series and then switch to parallel. There is a noticeable jerk when the switching takes place, next time catch it even on a diesel hauled loco pulling out of your favourite station.

Yes, this happens around 50kmph when hauled by an Alco diesel, IIRC, and is a quite strong kick . I don't recall noticing this with the newer WDP-4 series, though. Does it still happen?

It is also possible that electric locos slow down when passing through a neutral section of between 4-10m of composite wire which is an insulator. These are built into the overhead wires.

Neutral sections don't usually produce jerks, at least not visibly to the passenger. All the driver does here is open the main circuit breaker ('DJ open', in railway parlance) when approaching the section, and close it once crossed. During that time, local trains will have their lights turned off (express train coaches have batteries, so it's not noticeable) and keep coasting. Best observed in the Chennai Beach - Tambaram suburban line, just after exiting Beach station, near the Rajaji Salai subway.

The reason is let us say you are travelling from Mangalore to Shoranur. You are traveling on the section from Kasaragod and your loco is drawing power from the substation at Chervattur. But then the next section draws power from the substation at South Kannur. It so happens that if the electricity is not in phase between the two substations, the system will trip if the two substations are wired directly.

Nice explanation saar. If I may add another point: the phase difference is intentional, so that the load is distributed across all phases, or the electricity supplier's network will become unbalanced.

There will be a warning for the driver that there is a neutral section ahead, or else at a very slow speed in principle the engine can die there.

True, but these sections are usually on flat locations, with sufficient warnings to the driver, who anyway has enough road learning to pilot that section. So chances of stranding are few and very rare. Interested folks can notice these sections: a diamond sign with '500' inside, indicating 500m to the neutral section, followed by a 250m sign, and then a sign with two vertical lines and a horizontal line in between, which is the start of the neutral section. So the driver has to open the DJ before this, and close it at the end sign, which is 3 vertical lines on top of each other.

In any case, I think manjgu saar was referring to the series of jerks when accelerating - that has become commonplace since the passenger coaches started shifting from the traditional screw coupler to the centre buffer coupler (CBC). The CBC are used for goods trains, and they have the tendency to jerk and pull when starting. When passenger coaches started getting them, the effect on the passengers were uncomfortable, to say the least . Lots of spilled coffee, rasam, etc. But the reason for CBC is better safety - coaches will not climb on top of each on the event of a sudden brake/derailment/accident, and shorter coupling distance, easier coupling mechanism - just push the loco against the coach, and the coupling is pretty much done. Also helps with shunting coaches and assembling rakes in the yard. Earlier, the coupling assistant will have turn the screw by hand for a bit before declaring completion. So the process is now faster.

I think some further changes have been made of late that the jerks have reduced in many trains. But they are not gone completely. For the last factor in jerking is the loco pilot - how fast he wants to accelerate decides the smoothness.

[Theo_Fidel]

Sachin saar,

I agree, it is not wise to completely remove a manual alarm. WRT calling the cellphone... A moving fire is almost impossible to control. In a matter of seconds the entire coach can become engulfed and then spread to the attached carriages. Several horrible fires like this have happened.

Similar problems are seen in the USA WRT fire alarm systems. Too often the alarms are tripped by children, inebriated folks and even maliciously. This is why all FA systems have a horn strobe attached to them and then the fire alarm reports to a sub panel at the guards station. And then the guard triggers the emergency response. If the guard does not respond in 30 seconds, the EM folks are called in regardless. Something similar could be installed. A piercing alarm with flashing lights would deter anyone but the most brazen joy rider.

Still a manual fire alarm is only a back up. A simple combination smoke/heat detector would mean that the train driver would automatically be notified of a fire and no alarm pulling would be necessary. These units can cost as little as 50 cents when purchased in bulk. All other emergencies can be dealt with by the TE/Radio/Intercom/etc. A single manual alarm can be placed at the ends of the carriages near the TE station. Modern carriages around the world follow this arrangement. The manual chain is a deep anachronism.

[arshyam]

I also noticed something very amusing. In IR time tables printed after 2003, the table does not carry in the upper left hand corner, the symbol Down or Up. Trains originating from MAS are all Down. So it was always 1 Down Mangalore Mail towards Mangalore.

My understanding is that the "Up/Down" concept has been done away with, after each train got a unique number. The "Up" journey was always to the Zone H.Q. So "Up Mangalore Mail", would be travelling towards Madras from Mangalore. In UK (from where this system would have originated), any train running towards London was "Up" and going away from London would be "Down". A bit tricky since London, is on the lower part of England. So a train towards Edinburgh, up north in Scotland would for the railways be a "Down" train.

No saar, up and down trains always had different numbers.

For example, ex Madras:
1Dn/2Up (Mangalore Mail)
7Dn/8Up (Bangalore Mail)
15Dn/16Up (GT express)
5Up/6Dn (Howrah Mail - see the difference - Howrah was 'up' of Madras, but Delhi was down. Same for Bombay :10Up/9Dn)

If you are confused, join the club . That, and the massive number of new terminals that have been added to the system made this Up-Down system very confusing - is Bangalore Up from Trivandrum Central? How about Secunderabad? And so on. Hence the ditching of the up-down.

There is still a vestige remaining though - the order of the train number within the pair gives a clue to the up/down, though today, it is intended to show which end point maintains/owns the train. For example: 12657/12658 is Bangalore mail, same as 7/8 as above. Mangalore mail is 12601/12602, and GT is 12615/12616. So Madras is still up for Mangalore, Bangalore and Delhi, but down for Bombay and Calcutta. But these trains are also maintained at Chennai, so the numbering makes sense in the new system.

Hope this helps in confusing further

[manjgu]

the jerk is felt most when moving from rest... never seen this kind of jarring jerk in other trains !
guys is it possible to install some kind of vacum cleaner below the train which can also clean the tracks whilst moving? espciailly near the stations..too much garbage on the tracks...

[vsunder]

Sachin: Your response begets a question. What say for the sake of argument a tree has fallen and the catenary is also down on a line. Will it not be easier for the stationmaster to just report, the up or down line is obstructed?

Arshyam: Wonderful explanations and comments as usual. Are you sure you don't moonlight as an IR loco pilot on weekends? Yes, I am aware of those diamond warnings with numbers in them on traction poles while approaching neutral sections. Also there are up and down panto symbols. One such occurs approaching the famous diamond crossing at Nagpur. Neutral sections occur in the New York area also and on older NJ transit trains like the Chennai EMU, Arshyam mentions, the lights, A/C etc. will switch off briefly and then come back on as one passes through a neutral section.
No I have not traveled in a WDP-4 hauled train yet, so the short answer is I cannot say if it jerks.

[arshyam]

Are you sure you don't moonlight as an IR loco pilot on weekends?

I onlee wish saar

Also there are up and down panto symbols. One such occurs approaching the famous diamond crossing at Nagpur.

Yes, the famous diamond crossing. These are seen at a few other places as well, but I am not sure what the difference is from a regular neutral section. Only other place it made sense was the AC/DC traction boundary in Mumbai, but that was to use different pantographs depending on AC or DC.

guys is it possible to install some kind of vacum cleaner below the train which can also clean the tracks whilst moving? espciailly near the stations..too much garbage on the tracks...

Vacuums are terribly inefficient in our system - too much suction will suck up ballast, too little will not clean much. Plus, what are we cleaning? Paper, toilet waste, dust? Kindly do elaborate your thoughts.

My thoughts:
There is no one single solution that will address everything. It should be a mix of solutions scoped to solving smaller problems.

1. Cleanliness will only come from social change - people should stop littering. Hopefully Swachh Bharat will take us there at some point. But need a targeted campaign at all stations and trains, otherwise people will revert to their old ways.

2. As for stations, many terminals have cement track bases, called washable aprons. They can be hosed down periodically with a high pressure air/water hose and kept clean. But they will need a lot of water given the size of our terminals and regular cleaning. I am not sure about the costs involved.

3. Fix the toilets in coaches - stop using the open discharge ones and move to the new airline-type vacuum system. There was a report on a DRDO solution for this (bio-digester?), not sure what's the state of it.

4. Provide waste receptacles at all platforms and coaches, and strictly enforce littering fines. Easier said than done, but necessary.

5. Extend the on-board housekeeping facility to all trains, and also ensure toilet cleaning at major junctions . The latter is being done these days). The former is done on select trains today. Doing more will need funds from somewhere, so again, easier said than done.

[Theo_Fidel]

There was an experiment in vaccum cleaning rail lines recently. Now where is that video....
..there....

Not sure how it is going recently....

[svinayak]

Must read:

http://www.dailyo.in/politics/modi1-nar ... /4186.html

The best example of dismantling of the transfer-posting raj is in the Indian Railways, where many posts in the Railway Board and even those of general managers carried a price tag under many past governments. It is to the great credit of the Modi government and the PMO in particular, that in a short span, it has helped appoint 26 people as general managers and five members of the Railway Board, including the chairman in the most transparent manner which has no parallel in Indian Railways in the past 35 years. Significantly, as soon as Suresh Prabhu took over as the railway minister, he had requested the cabinet secretariat and the PMO to help him in appointing good officers.

Interestingly, the figures that went with these posts as under the table money are mindboggling, according to Indian Railways sources. The post of certain general managers carried a price of Rs 2.5 to Rs 5 crore and of certain Railway Board members over Rs 5 crore. The most shocking information is that in the appointment of a Railway Board chairman a few years ago, a political leader allegedly took an unbelievable Rs 50 crore. The deal was that the chairman will pay the money in a fixed time frame after taking over. A former Railway Board official said: "By appointing honest officers to these posts in the Railways, the Modi government has curbed corruption of a minimum Rs 1,000 crore so far." If Modi is to get maximum results for his initiatives, he has to now find ways to take this clean bureaucracy culture to the states through some innovative methods and innovation to have maximum impact.

[manjgu]

paper, plastic waste...not solid human waste.

i was wondering cant they implement a system which closes the outlet of the toilet at stations? so that no solid waste falls on the tracks, atleast when the train is at a station?

[Sachin]

I agree, it is not wise to completely remove a manual alarm.

The catch here is that in IR, the alarm chain is directly activating the brake system. The driver or the guard cannot do any thing, other than to allow the train to stop. The chain pull releases a valve on the brake cylinders (allowing air in, which breaks the vacuum). The driver and the guard would notice a sudden slowing down, and the needles on the brake pipe & cylinder gauge rapidly falling down. Then the guard actually gets down check coach after coach to figure out from where the chain has got pulled. By then the trouble makers would have jumped out and run away.

Still a manual fire alarm is only a back up. A simple combination smoke/heat detector would mean that the train driver would automatically be notified of a fire and no alarm pulling would be necessary.

If fire is considered to be a major risk, then perhaps an automatic system to detect fire with some manual points in a coach may help. People may stop misusing it, if they notice that the train would not come to a mandatory halt if it is used. The current "Alarm chain" system, forces the train to stop. Since folks know the train would have to stop, they misuse it. Also this problem seems to be a perennial one in 2-3 states in India.

What say for the sake of argument a tree has fallen and the catenary is also down on a line. Will it not be easier for the stationmaster to just report, the up or down line is obstructed?

May be yes, but then what is considered an Up line and what is considered as Down line needs to have some uniformity. But I have seen the Up and Down marked in the Tokenless block instruments which the station masters use. "Up line to xyz.." & "Down line from abc", is the way the position indicators get marked.

[Singha]

vacuums will not work with the kind of dust we have. my community has a "roots logistics" massa style road cleaning vehicle that comes around every weekend . its has powerful rotary brushes equipped vacuum and huge fans/motors inside. but all it does is raise a huge cloud of fine dust...and a followup crew of sweeper ladies is on the job daily. the kids call it the 'dust beast'

automatic smoke & fire detectors in coaches linked to alarm panel on the driver cabin would help....have 25 LEds that indicate the coach as well. pilgrims have been known to use LPG cylinders inside trains to cook food.

[srin]

Can't you replace the chain with an intercom to the guard ?

[Sachin]

Can't you replace the chain with an intercom to the guard ?

In IR only a few trains are even remotely close to "Train Sets". So each "rake" (or consist of coaches) have every chance to be separated coach by coach, and attached to other trains, or sent for maintenance etc. Because of this, it is tough to have the cabling done which connects all the coaches. Or they should have some additional plug & socket kind of mechanism added onto each coach and connect them up when the rake is formed.

EMU rakes (seen in suburban routes) generally do not get broken into parts. They go for servicing as one piece and come back the same way. Hence they have an intercom facility between the Motorman and the guard.

[SaiK]

It is a bad idea to remove the chain pulling..
however, it needs to strengthened with
- automatic chain pulling on coach detachment
- integrated with fire alarm to automatically stop the train and begin the sprinkler system
- WiFi connectivity and networked coaches to increased data connections
- dakku bhais with 6 sleeper haspatal, restaurant can be combined in one coach
- along with other swacch movement

that solar panels should drive to cool even the 2nd class sleepers

good thinking is hard for our people.

[saip]

Then the guard actually gets down check coach after coach to figure out from where the chain has got pulled. By then the trouble makers would have jumped out and run away.

Isnt there a flag that pops out from the compartment when the chain is pulled?

[Sachin]

Isnt there a flag that pops out from the compartment when the chain is pulled?

Yes. It is like a small metallic handle (looks similar to the Annett's Key used in railway operations). It is appears on one of the top corners on the outside of the coaches. When a chain gets pulled, the position of the key/indicator changes. The guard after making due enquiries places the handle back to its original position to close the valve. Vaccum has to be built up again, and the train can start moving.

[Supratik]

I am getting news that removal of chains is just a rumor.

[SaiK]

if we chain in on rumors without links, then we will be only rumoring

[arshyam]

For the record:

No plans to Remove Chain Pulling System: Railways - PTI, NDTV

New Delhi: The railways on tuesday dismissed any proposal to do away with chain pulling system in train coaches, but said that adequate awareness will be created among passengers to stop its misuse.

Earlier, a few officials had claimed that the railways had planned to do away with the facility as it was prone to regular misuse and led to loss of revenues to the public transporter.

Railway spokesperson said on tuesday night that while there are growing instances of the misuse of the system it would not replace it from the coaches.

Chain pulling has been a big menace across the railway network, especially in states such as Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, leading to delays and a drain on the railway exchequer. Of particular concern was its misuse for nefarious activities.

Given its misuse, the railways had been toying with the idea of putting in place a mechanism including strict checks to ensure that this facility is not misused.

[SaiK]

to avoid misuse, they can increase the protection system.

the chain pulling can be augmented with a CCTV so that they know who pulled it. this also adds additional security.

there should be none stopping installing fire-alarms and sprinkler systems.

and that eram scifi toilets or similar

[vsunder]

Coaches with solar panels on the roof rolled out for trials.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/sli ... 627403.cms

[SaiK]

similarly, all railway stations can be converted to have solar panels on the top. that powers light, fan and basic energy needs like water filtration or swacch system etc.

[Singha]

Beijing: China will supply 14 subway trains with 112 carriages to Kolkata city, the biggest such contract for a Chinese company in South Asia. China Railway Rolling Stock Corp. Ltd (CRRC) will provide 14 subway trains in total to Kolkata, CRRC said in a statement, state-run China Daily reported.
This is the first overseas order that CRRC has received after merger of China’s state-owned train manufacturing firms—China North Railway (CNR) and China South Railway (CSR) this month. The Kolkata order was secured by CNRC subsidiary company—CNR Dalian Locomotive and Rolling Stock Co. in February.
The value of the order has not been mentioned. As the third-biggest city in India, Kolkata will replace the old trains that have been running for over 30 years in its south-north subway line which reaches a length of 23.45 km in order to ease the transportation pressure, the Daily reported.

[Singha]

Is kolkata building new metro lines?

[arshyam]

^^ They are building the east-west metro, looks there is more coming, according to Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kolkata_Metro#Network

Wonder why they didn't source from BEML in Bangalore - they are supplying BG metro rakes to DMRC.

[Theo_Fidel]

China typically supplies financing, often with 0% interest type rates.
The fact that much of their equipment is rubbish will go on the blink in 2 years is conveniently ignored....

[Bade]

Isn't Mumbai metro also using Chinese supplied rakes ?

[Suraj]

I'm surprised no one posted the Bibek Debroy Committee report on railway sector reforms:
Get regulator in 5 years, then scrap Rail Budget: Bibek Debroy panel report

The much-awaited Bibek Debroy committee report on the restructuring of Indian Railways lays down a five-year roadmap to evolve a statutory rail regulator, scrap the Rail Budget and make room for more players in an “open access” regime which turns the Railways into just another train-service provider in the country.

Instead of an aggressive approach as was seen in the interim report submitted in March for comments, the final report, to be presented to Railway Ministry on Friday, calls for more gradual changes.

The report, accessed by The Indian Express, makes the existence of an independent, quasi-judicial Railway Regulatory Authority of India a prerequisite in five years for reforms like un-bundling and restructuring of Railways.The Rail Budget as we know it, should cease to exist after that, it says.

“Once the changes of the first five years are implemented, including the resolution of the social costs issue, the Railway Budget should be phased out,” the report says adding that the government should take the entire burden of social cost borne by Railways by way of subsidy.

Pushed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the high-level committee was formed in September to restructure the Railways and suggest ways for resource mobilisation. After the receipt of the final report, the Railway Board is to submit a report on it to the PM by June-end.

The first five years will see preparatory work: migration to a commercial accounting system (to figure out the social cost burden) in two years; uniform induction system of all new Human Resource; and devolution of powers to General Managers, Divisional Railway Managers and Station Managers.

In the new report, the committee has left the job of figuring out how to do that to the Minister of Railways under supervision of the PMO and aided by a dedicated group of officers. There is room for allowing outside experts to help in this too.

Separation of railway track construction, train operations, and rolling-stock production units under different entities to enable open access can happen only after after that, it says. The Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation Limited (DFCCL), the report recommends, should be made autonomous and separated from Indian Railways so that it gives non-discriminatory access to both Indian Railways and private operators. Operators should be able to pay directly to DFCCL without having to interact with Railways.

[srin]

IE article contains full report: http://indianexpress.com/article/india/ ... il-budget/

[Suraj]

India Mulls Rail Fund for Modi’s China-Like Rail Revamp

India is considering setting up a fund to pump investment into the nation’s railway, according to the World Bank, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeks an ambitious $133 billion overhaul of Asia’s oldest network.

The lender and private institutions may be among the fund’s investors, World Bank India Country Director Onno Ruhl said.

“If the capital investment vehicle realizes then we’re willing to invest in it,” Ruhl said in an interview. “There’s a concept in the Railways Ministry. We’d be a small player, ultimately leveraging other people in. Private investors would be more institutional investors in the beginning.”

Freight may offer the brightest opportunity for attracting inflows and funding new rail infrastructure, according to Ruhl.

“Freight is the most viable part of railways,” he said in the June 2 interview in New Delhi. “The money can come to some extent from freight rates but only if you manage to make your freight performance better.”

Indian Railways seeks to invest 8.5 trillion rupees ($133 billion) through 2020, Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu said in February. The plan is an echo of the huge sums China put into railroads, including about $128 billion in 2015 alone.

Modi’s vision is to add track, world-class stations and bullet trains to spur the economy. India also plans to transport more freight, such as coal, on dedicated lines.

The push to unclog a network developed partly under British colonial rule potentially presents opportunities for companies such as General Electric Co., Bombardier Inc., Titagarh Wagons Ltd. and Texmaco Rail & Engineering Ltd.

India estimates passenger fares account for 27 percent of annual receipts of 1.8 trillion rupees. Freight contributes 1.2 trillion rupees. Running costs from ferrying about 23 million passengers -- equivalent to Australia’s population -- and 3 million tons of cargo daily absorb most of the railway’s revenues, starving it of investment.

The World Bank is financing 1,133 kilometers (704 miles) of an 1,839 kilometer eastern freight rail link that will run from Punjab through five other states to Kolkata. Ruhl said India has also asked the lender for advice from overseas rail specialists on how to improve the network.

[Supratik]

Bibek Debroy just read my mind.

Several metro projects have been initiated in Kolkata. Except EW metro all of them were initiated by Mamata as RM. However, after becoming CM she refused to help in land acquisition and removing encroachments. So all of them are stuck. Recently Babul Supriyo, the BJP MP persuaded Mamata to remove one hurdle in EW metro. However, when these projects will be completed no one knows. Mamata is crazy - that is all I can say as these projects would have sealed her Kolkata votebank for at least 10-20 yrs.

[SaiK]

what would be the cost of travel on bullet vs current first class even?

[Muppalla]

How is railways doing in terms train reaching desitnations on time? Even today for states like Bihar, railways is life line.



Prabhu may be doing good but if even this type trains run 18 hrs late then there is problem that BJP could just lose elections.